I too am a Pirates fan...but it just makes no sense for us to sign a Vlad when there is no one else on the team to provide support for him. Our plan is to develop a minor league system (starting to happen - I think four of the five Pirates minor league teams went to the playoffs last year), get those players up to the majors and THEN add one or two big names as a FA.

Personally, I love to hate the Yankees so I hope they keep it up. The minute Steinbrenner leaves and the team is mediocre, I will lose some interest in baseball. As of right now, my excitement level for the season is very high, purely because I want to see teams beat the Yankees. It is so much more satisfying watching the Yankees lose when they have it all...

not just the pirates do that....the brewers, the reds, the marlins, the tigers, the expos and almost every other team that floats at the bottom of their division. if every team had george steinbrenner as it's owner we wouldn't have this problem at all.

it is more likely that contreras would be long reliever like he did some of last season or they will trade him for a 2nd baseman like vidro.

How is this fair that the Yankees can do this and my pirates don't have two pennies to rub together

It's not the Yankees fault that the Pirates' owner doesn't spend much money. Heck, he probably will stick all that luxury tax money that he gets from George in his own pocket.

Well, last year the Pirates lost money on a 50 million dollar payroll, and the Yanks made money on a payroll almost 4 times as large. So, the problem is not exactly that the Pirates don't spend a ton of money also, it is that they don't have any money to spend. Pittsburgh is not even ranked in the 50 largest metropolitan areas in the US - they are CLEARLY a small market team. I am sure if they turned a profit, they would spend the money...

ajgdrummer7 wrote:not just the pirates do that....the brewers, the reds, the marlins, the tigers, the expos and almost every other team that floats at the bottom of their division. if every team had george steinbrenner as it's owner we wouldn't have this problem at all.

You got to live in the real world. Put George in TB, or Pittsburgh or Montreal, and i guarantee you he wouldn't be spending 185 mil a year. There is no way certain teams will ever have a 80 mil payroll. It's just not feasible.

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